Pundit Leroy Rosenior believes one Manchester City player had his best game for the club against Arsenal on Sunday.
City drew 0-0 against the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium, allowing Liverpool to become the new Premier League leaders, after they had beaten Brighton.
City struggled to breach the Arsenal defence, with the attacking players totally nullified by the Gunners’ backline.
While it was a missed opportunity, it was also not the worst result for City, against a quality side.
There were a few small positives for Pep Guardiola. The performance of Rico Lewis was very good, after he had come on in the game to replace the injured Nathan Ake. It was his first appearance in the Premier League for two months.
There was also a brilliant display from Josko Gvardiol…
Leroy Rosenior hails Josko Gvardiol after display for Manchester City vs Arsenal
Given neither John Stones nor Kyle Walker were available for the game, it meant Gvardiol started on the left side, with Ake playing centrally and Manuel Akanji playing from the right.
There have been some question marks over Gvardiol this season. Although, some of the criticism he has received has been a little overboard.
He has mostly played out on that left side, which is not his natural position.
But on Sunday against the Gunners, he was probably City’s best performer. He showed a fantastic touch throughout and offered a decent threat going forward.
In the eyes of former striker Leroy Rosenior, it was Gvardiol’s best display in a City shirt so far. He said on Premier League Productions’ Fanzone: “Do you know what, Gvardiol, I thought that was his best game in a City shirt.
“When he played at the World Cup I thought he was an outstanding centre-half, he comes to Man City and Pep plays him at left-back and wonders why he wasn’t playing well? But at the weekend I thought he did very well.”
Gvardiol was brilliant vs Arsenal
It was a poor day at the office for City as a collective. But Gvardiol’s performance was definitely impressive.
The Croatia international has struggled at times this season, and it has been clear that he is very much still learning on the job.
But against Arsenal he was fantastic. He looked extremely assured on the ball and used his technical ability brilliantly a few times to get away from Arsenal players.
The £200,000-a-week star also really locked down one of Arsenal’s main threats in Bukayo Saka, who was on the periphery of the game.
Gvardiol is still only 22 and the likelihood is that he will still make some errors here and there, especially playing on that left side. But it is clear to see that he has enormous potential, and in a few years’ time, he could easily be one of the world’s best defenders.